Healthy People 2030

NCHS Fact Sheet, August 2020

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About NCHS

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is the nation’s principal health statistics agency. Its mission is to provide reliable statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the nation.

Collaborating with public and private health partners, NCHS uses a variety of data collection mechanisms to obtain accurate information from multiple sources. These processes provide a broad perspective on the population’s health, influences on health, health outcomes, and valuable statistical information for stakeholders to use when developing their policies and programs.

Healthy People Initiative

The Healthy People initiative is designed to guide national health promotion and disease prevention efforts to improve the health of the nation. Released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) every decade since 1980, Healthy People identifies science-based objectives with targets to monitor progress and motivate and focus action. Healthy People 2030 (HP2030) is the current iteration of the Healthy People initiative and is available at HealthyPeople.gov.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health’s (OASH) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) leads and manages the Healthy People initiative in collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders, partners, and organizations, including NCHS, workgroups (primarily HHS subject matter experts), the Secretary’s Advisory Committee (nonfederal, independent subject matter experts), Federal Interagency Workgroup (Healthy People steering committee), and the public.

Healthy People 2030

HP2030 is the fifth iteration of the initiative. Launched on August 18, 2020, HP2030 features a framework that includes its vision, mission, foundational principles, and overarching goals; core objectives with targets; and research and developmental objectives. HP2030 was developed through a multiyear process with input from members of the public; public and private organizations; the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030, an independent federal advisory committee with subject matter experts; a diverse group of federal and nonfederal subject matter experts; and federal agencies.

The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030, a federal advisory committee comprised of nonfederal, independent subject matter experts, provided recommendations to the HHS Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding HP2030’s framework, mission, vision, overarching goals, objective development, priorities, criteria for selection of objectives and data sources, target-setting methods, implementation, and identification of Leading Health Indicators.

NCHS’ Role in HP2030

During the development of HP2030, NCHS provided data-related support to HHS, the Secretary’s Advisory Committee, topic area workgroups, and Federal Interagency Workgroup in achieving a more focused and statistically rigorous set of objectives. Specifically, NCHS helped develop and apply data-related criteria for the selection of HP2030 objectives and data sources, provided guidance in the development of technical specifications for objectives, and developed a tool to assist topic area workgroups with methods for setting targets.

During the HP2030 tracking period, NCHS will:

• Serve as the statistical advisor to HHS and the Healthy People initiative on the data used to monitor the HP2030 objectives.
• Conduct research and develop methods for measuring HP2030 progress and overarching goals, including development of an HP2030 disparities tool.
• Analyze, present, and publish data related to progress towards reaching the HP2030 goals and objectives.
• Maintain DATA2030, a comprehensive database for all HP2030 data.
• Provide expertise and technical assistance to national, state, and local health monitoring efforts.

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What’s New

• HP2030 reflects high-priority public health issues, and the initiative will allow for changes to objectives throughout the decade to respond to emerging challenges.
• The HP2030 website (https://www.health.gov/healthypeopleexternal icon) encompasses a cross-cutting topic grouping scheme, more powerful search capabilities, and user-friendly features that will be further expanded during the decade.
• The HP2030 database (DATA2030) will become available on the website in the coming months and will be managed by NCHS throughout the decade.
• Technical and substantive improvements to the initiative mean more timely and efficient data on the Healthy People website.

How does Healthy People 2030 differ from previous decades?

Healthy People 2030 reflects a more focused, evidence-based, and statistically rigorous set of objectives. The following data-related criteria were applied in the selection of objectives and data sources:

• Data are reliable, valid, and nationally representative with no major methodological issues (e.g., limited population coverage, inadequate sample size, unknown or low response rates, and inadequate studies of nonresponse bias).
• Data are timely with baseline data no older than 2015 and include a measure of variability and an assurance of at least two additional data points throughout the decade.
• Data are publicly available with complete documentation, generally with federal government management or oversight.

In addition to the data-related criteria listed above, HP2030 core objectives were selected based on the following criteria:

• National importance: Ability to have direct impact or influence on health, broad and comprehensive applicability, substantial burden, and national health priority;
• Evidence base: Existing evidence of effective interventions to achieve the objective; and
• Disparities and equity: Assessment of health disparities with a focus on health equity.

For Healthy People 2030, there are three categories of objectives

Core objectives: High-priority objectives that have an identified data source, baseline data, a target, and an assurance of at least two additional data points throughout the decade.

Developmental objectives: Developmental objectives represent high-priority issues of interest that do not yet have reliable baseline data. Evidence-based interventions have been identified for developmental objectives. Developmental objectives have not been evaluated for meeting core objective selection and data criteria.

Research objectives: Research objectives represent areas where, although there is a high health or economic burden, or significant disparities exist between population groups, more research is needed to identify evidence-based interventions to improve health. Research objectives have not been evaluated for meeting core objective selection and data criteria.

HP2030 Core Objectives

• At launch, there were 355 core objectives.
• These objectives used 81 data sources.
• NCHS data systems are used to monitor 166 or 47% of these objectives.

For more information about NCHS, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs.

For more information about Healthy People 2030, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthy_people/index.htm.